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UPDATED: Miners win seventh regional
CAMPBELLSBURG -- Chalk up another postseason win for the Linton-Stockton Miners and credit their defense for the majority of the load.
This time it was the West Washington Senators who fell victim to the top rated defense in Class A as the Miners allowed just 164 total yards on their way to a 28-0 win here Friday night in the IHSAA Class A Regional.
"This is a great bunch of kids and I'm tickled to death for them," Linton-Stockton coach Steve Weber said. "They've done so much for this town and how many teams can say they've won as many games as they have.
"Look at the numbers they put up, it's huge for this city."
The Miners were able to contain the strong arm Senator quarterback Cody Maudlin. The sophomore who had guided West Washington to a 9-3 record coming into Friday's contest was held to just 111 yards on 10 of 25 passing.
"We had a good idea what they were going to do," Weber said. "It helps that they can go against our offense in practice and it's one of the few teams that we've played that wasn't one dimensional.'
But shutting down a solid passing game was only half the defensive story for Linton-Stockton. On the ground the Senators were unable to establish anything significant and were held to a dismal 53 yards.
"We knew they were going to be probably the best offense we played all year," Cole Bradbury, who plays defensive back said. "We were fired up and ready to go -- it showed tonight."
What makes the effort all the more amazing, it came with some shuffling among key positions.
"They played great especially with some adversity," Weber said. "We were missing one of our best corners (Grant Stamm) so we had to move one of our best outside linebackers to corner -- Zane Hayden -- then move an outside linebacker inside.
"They played great, Jackson Bohnert had a great game, the defensive line played great, just an outstanding defensive effort."
The effort, according to the coach, was another example of how the defense has been the star in a run to a second consecutive semistate.
"At this time of year, defense is definitely the way to go," Weber said. "You have a solid defense and you have a fighting chance. These guys are playing good football right now and we got out of here healthy, which is huge. And we know we've got a tough task ahead of us next week. And defensively I think we'll go in there and at least give a good show."
While the defense was showcasing their strength, the offense was turning success in the trenches into points -- but it wasn't the easiest part of the night either.
"The line did excellent tonight," quarterback Austin Karazsia said. "Joe Lorig has been practicing them great all week. I don't know what they've been doing down there, but whatever it is it's great."
After stalling on their first drive, they finally found their game legs and took control with a signature of the offense -- big plays.
"We were a little shaky in the first half, I don't know what was wrong," Karazsia said. "It was a different environment, there were a lot of people here tonight. This was good for us, the defense played well tonight and we scored points when we had to."
Koye Kaiser, who once again led the ground attack, hauled the football just 16 times for 129 yards. The biggest chunk came on his first carry of the night when he tore his way through the West Washington defense for a 57-yard score at the 9:06 mark to give the Miner D all the points they would need.
"Some sputtering, but all in all we performed well," Weber said. "But we put 28 points on the board, so it went well against a good defensive squad."
Karazsia had another solid night, despite a slow start.
The senior signal caller finished the night 25 of 34 for 245 yards. He added a 29 yard scoring strike to Bradbury to extend the lead to 14-0 after Dyllanne Deischer's second of four PATs.
Bradbury helped bury the Senators a little further when he ran the ball in to the end zone from eight yards out.
"Grant was out again tonight so I had to step up and everybody had to step up," Bradbury said. "We had to stretch the field and we did and it shows on the scoreboard."
Kaiser wrapped up the scoring in the fourth quarter when put the final points on the scoreboard with a 5-yard slice and dice through the West Washington defense.
Now the Miners will face a rematch with the same team that handed them their lone setback last year when they host Indianapolis Scecina in the semistate game at Roy Williams Field next Friday night.
"We've been waiting for this one for a year," Karazsia said. "Words can't describe how we felt after that one, so we're looking forward to a good week of practice."
MINERS 28, SENATORS 0
Linton-Stockton 14 7 0 7 -- 28
West Washington 0 0 0 0 -- 0
First quarter
L -- Koye Kaiser 57 run (Dyllanne Deischer kick), 9:06.
L -- Cole Bradbury 29 pass from Austin Karazsia (Deischer kick), 1:47.
Second quarter
L -- Bradbury 8 run (Deischer kick), 9:30.
Fourth quarter
L -- Kaiser 5 run (Deischer kick), 10:04.
| L-S | WW | |
| First downs | 22 | 6 |
| Rushes-yards 30-186 | 22-53 | |
| Passing yards | 245 | 111 |
| Total yards | 431 | 164 |
| C-A-I | 10-25-0 | 25-34-1 |
| Punts 2-55 | 6-35 | |
| Penalties-yards | 0-67 | 5-42 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Return yards | 7 | 41 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Linton-Stockton, 16-129, Austin Hale 7-29, Bradbury 1-8, Abram Neff 1-7, Karazsia 1-7, Zane Hayden 3-6, Pierce Jackson 1-0. West Washington, Chad Thompson 7-23, Tyler Dunn 6-15, Jared Maudlin 2-8, Sean Keller 2-0, Tyler Holliday 1-(minus 1), Cody Maudlin 5-(minus 2).
PASSING -- Linton-Stockton, Karazsia 25-34-1-245. West Washington, Cody Maudlin 10-25-0-111.
RECEIVING -- Linton-Stockton, Bradbury 11-102 Zane Hayden 5-51, Beau Eaton 5-48, Kaiser 2-23, Dane Rupska 1-10, Hale 1-6. West Washington, Tyler Holliday 4-73, Matt Brackney 3-39, Chad Thompson 3-(minus 1).
MISSED FIELD GOAL -- Deischer, 25.